Solstice
by Kiminator Mark XII
Summary: Okay, she's a mutant freak, she's on the run from an insane scientist, but she could care less. Because she could fly and that was the best feeling in the world. It also didn't hurt to have a few friends along for the ride... Nejiten.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Aggh! I suck at writing chapter stories because I don't have the attention span to update the chapters! But, alas, this is a story that I enjoy writing/reading over, so, hopefully, I'll be able to finish it. I got this inspiration from James Patterson's Maximum Ride series and 3VAD127's fic The Angel Experiment. So, while the idea of flying, mutant bird-kids does not belong to me, the plot line does, I assure you. Sorry this chapter's pretty short, but I'm lazy and this is pretty much the intro. Yeah, it's getting the ball rolling, so please... stay with me here.

**Disclaimer: **All Naruto characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto and the bird-kid thing was inspired by the aforementioned literature of James Patterson.

This one goes to both of my sisters and to maikoxshipper. Because she basically is like a sister to me.

オ

_You know how some kids get excited about the first day of school and have an outfit all picked out and a new lunchbox and stuff? Well, they're bleeping idiots._

-Max in School's Out— Forever

オ

**Solstice**

**Chapter 1: Of Winged Girls and New Schools**

Mitarashi Tenten walked slowly down the squishy road, dreading the prospect of having to start school as a new student in the middle of the year. _Again_. She adjusted the strap on her backpack and sighed up at the oppressive cloud cover. She was _sooo tired of rain_. Usually, Konoha was all smiles and sunshine, but lately, it had been raining.

_A lot._

And she hated it.

_A lot. _

But, being raised up with her sister's philosophy of "shut up or suck it up," Tenten just sighed once more and headed sown the path to Konoha High, her new school.

She lived with her sister Anko because both of her parents (or should she say _adoptive_ parents) had died. They had served valiantly in the military for years, taking turns caring for the kids and had been killed side-by-side in a mission to the Sound. A twenty-year-old Anko had saved her from the horrors of the foster system and had been her caretaker ever since that day three years ago.

Now a junior in high school, Tenten had been moved so many times that she'd never really had any real friends. Her sister worked in the military just like her parents, but all she was allowed to know is that Anko worked from home and didn't have to be sent anywhere. The little family was always on the move and this time, they had settled into the single largest city of Konoha.

A soft complaint tainted the girl's lips as her ginormous new school came into view.

She would _not _be enjoying this.

オ

As soon as Tenten had stepped foot in the school, she'd been whisked away by a polite secretary who then dumped her in the principal's office for a debriefing. After said debriefing, the principal (Tsunade, was it?) directed her to her Spanish class (she'd missed Homeroom because _man, _that woman could _talk_).

She huffed and brushed the chocolate brown locks out of her face, not looking forward to going into class late. Ugh, it was so humiliating to stand up and introduce herself like that! And if there was one thing that Tenten absolutely _hated_ it was being stared at like a freak of nature. Because... well, because she actually _was _ a complete freak of nature.

Seriously.

…She had _wings growing out of her back._

If that didn't count for the freak of nature category, she didn't know what would.

Of course, Tenten hid them carefully. She always wore an overly-large backpack that she folded her wings into through a hole in the back, she never went to sleep-overs, never swam with anyone but her sister, and basically... never got to live a normal life.

So, yeah, she had a _right_ to be squeamish about being stared at.

The Mitarashi felt her entire body tense up automatically as she begrudgingly stepped foot into the dreaded classroom. And, as expected, immediately all eyes were on her. The girl shuddered at the gawking look on all of their faces. And she was sure that there was something akin to "Ooh, fresh meat..." going on in their little brains.

"Oh," the beautiful female that was at the front of the class started, "You must be the new student, Tenten. Welcome, my name is Kurenai and I'm the Spanish teacher."

The teen wanted to spit something like the obvious fact that she was the Spanish teacher seeing as though she was standing in front of a classroom with Spanish posters everywhere, but she refrained, instead biting her tongue and giving a grimacing sort of smile. The smile Kurenai gave reached up to her red eyes, which was always a must if Tenten was going to even remotely trust a new person. The girl had learned early in her Hell of a childhood that people with fake smiles were not to be trusted.

Not waiting for permission, the brunette sped to the back of the class and sat carefully next to a blue-eyed, blonde-haired, over-the-top gorgeous girl. She sighed in relief, glad to be out from under the scrutiny of her fellow classmates.

"Hey, Tenten!" the girl beside her practically oozed excitement, "My name's Ino and I'm really glad that you came to our school this year!"

Tenten shifted nervously. Ino's smile was _definitely _not fake, in fact, it lit up her whole face, but she just didn't feel comfortable with new people in new situations.

So she gave the bubbly girl a forced smile and listened to her yammer about her boyfriend for the rest of the remaining period.

This... was going to be a _long_ year.

オ

Two weeks into her school year and Tenten was finding, to her infinite surprise, that she was actually _enjoying _school. Not the classes and homework of course, because... just _ick_. She was finding the company of her new friends quite... fun. And fun was something that she didn't really associate with her life.

And, yes, she did have multiple friends now because Ino had dragged her to meet her faithful posse, Temari, Sakura, and Hinata.

Tenten had also met a hyperactive, green-clad boy in gym that she had liked instantly. It was certainly strange to her because she'd never felt such an instant connection to anyone in her whole life. Lee made her feel like she was normal, and like she wasn't a complete freak of nature... and sometimes, he seemed to almost... relate to her.

...Which was _completely ludicrous_, by the way...

The Mitarashi had just finished packing her books into her locker for lunch when a green blur caught her attention.

"Hello, my youthful flower!" He spouted out his wonderful nickname for her.

"Hey, Lee!" she grinned back at him, relishing the feeling of... normalness that he always brought about.

"So, Tennie," Lee began as they walked toward the lunchroom, "I was actually wondering if you would like to sit with us today at lunch!"

The girl's eyebrows drew together as she analyzed that sentence. "What do you mean, _us_?"

"Well, my best friend and I... well, mostly I have been wanting you to meet him."

"I don't know, Lee, I... don't like new people..."

"Oh, oh!" he grinned as a joyous light came to his eyes, "Neither does he! You guys will get along perfectly!"

The boy clapped his hands together and then rushed off to a table, lunch box in hand, leaving her to the horrors of the school lunch line.

Finally through the line (or should I say mob) of people, Tenten emerged from the kitchen area and tried to find her best friend.

And find him she did.

Yup, she found him grinning away while sitting next to a _certain male. _

The certain male that she'd recently heard stories about from Hinata. The certain male that had Ino and every other girl in the whole school drooling. The certain male that happened to be one of the richest/handsomest/most popular guys in the _entire freaking school._

Hyuuga Neji.

Lee was sitting next to _Hyuuga Neji._

Lee was expecting her to interact with _Hyuuga Neji._

Dear Lord, somebody _kill her._

The brunette almost tried to escape, but her idiot of a best friend that she was going to murder later had already spotted her and was waving her toward their table. She gave a weak smile and sat cautiously on the bench across from Lee. And then she promptly received the patented Hyuuga Neji death glare. She shivered.

Yeah, there was a _reason_ that nobody would sit within twenty feet of them.

"Tenten!" the raven-haired student grinned even wider if that was possible. "I am so elated that you decided to accompany us!"

Lee would occasionally go on these random spats where he used big words because it "made him sound more youthful." Whatever.

"Hello, Lee..." she trailed off, wincing at the Hyuuga's stare. "This must be... your friend..."

"Yosh! This is Hyuuga Neji! We have known each other since-"Swiftly, Neji shot him a disapproving scowl. "...since... forever." The boy's smile faltered slightly which sent Tenten's system into high-alert.

"Nice to meet you," she muttered suspiciously.

He nodded back briskly and turned his attention to his lunch, not once looking back up.

Meeting the infamous Hyuuga had not been as bad as she originally had thought. Sure, his glare was off-putting and there was something that both Lee and Neji were hiding, but she didn't feel like she needed to be overly weird with them either. The brunette had even found that she didn't mind the cold boy's company and the feeling of comfort started to seep into the little group.

Maybe Neji wasn't so... untrustworthy after all...

_Maybe._

オ

Later that day, when Tenten was innocently walking to her English class, the poor girl was ambushed and thoroughly glomped in the hallway.

"OMG, Tenten!" a squeal that could only belong to Yamanaka Ino resonated through the space and threatened to shatter Tenten's eardrums.

And then she suddenly found herself surrounded by two blondes, a rosette, and... a blackette? (Seriously, though, do black-haired people even _have_ a name?)

"We heard that you totally sat with THE Hyuuga Neji at lunch today!" Sakura looked beyond excited.

Temari placed her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. "Aren't you into Uchiha?"

The girl blushed furiously at the mention of her crush. "Well... yeah, but really, they're both hot!"

The sandy blonde grinned, teal eyes sparkling as she turned on Hinata. "Yeah, but Uzumaki's pretty hot too, right, Hinata?"

Immediately, the girl's eyes widened and her cheeks turned a bright red shade. The other girls started laughing at her stuttering when Ino butted in again, subject not forgotten.

"So, Tenten," Ino said, stopping the brunette from making an escape attempt. "Was he _really_ cute close up? What about his hair? Is he mean like everyone says?"

The girl being questioned took a step back as all eyes locked on her. A shiver rolled down her spine and she suppressed the urge to run. "Uhh... sort of, it's really long and shiny, and no, he's definitely quiet and cold, but not that mean." She murmured, answering every question in turn.

"Oooh!" The Yamanaka sighed dreamily.

"Um, I-Ino," Hinata stuttered, still not over the mention of Naruto, "don't you have a b-boyfriend?"

"Well, yeah," Ino looked slightly sheepish, "But he can be _such_ a drag sometimes."

"He must not be that bad if you're using his word all the time," Temari gave the other blonde a jealous you-had-better-keep-an-eye-on-your-boyfriend look.

She just stuck out her tongue.

Tenten sweat-dropped, making her way out of the cat fight in progress.

"See ya later, Tens!" Sakura waved before turning reluctantly back to the fight that little Hyuuga Hinata was doing her best to break up.

The brown-haired teen shook her head. She had the weirdest friends _ever._

オ

**Thanks for reading! Review please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Woot! I'm back! 'Kay, the last chappie was a bit slow and introductory, but I swear this one gets the plot ball rolling. And this one has more Nejiten interaction! I is excited! :B

**Disclaimer: **Standard disclaimer applies. Don't own anything but the plot.

オ

_I felt like a Vulcan, studying these odd, quaint humans. I would never fit in. Never. Not anywhere._

-Max in School's Out—Forever

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**Solstice**

**Chapter 2: Discovered**

A whole month of school had flown by and Mitarashi Tenten found herself being established into the cliques and general society of high school. Despite her lack of social skills and, you know, lack of appreciation for any gathering with over three people, the mutant had found herself affiliated with the "Populars." She could care less, but seeing as though Hyuuga Neji would actually be civil with her, she had earned a respected spot by his side.

Whatever.

Tenten swung the extra large purse that carried her school books over her shoulder and slammed her locker shut. Finally, she was able to go home. This day had seemed to last _forever._

The brunette felt a hand grip her shoulder from behind, and she immediately tensed up, ready to defend herself at all costs. She spun quickly to her "attacker," only to see one of Ino's guy friends, Kiba.

"Hey, girlie, watcha up to?" He smiled smoothly, his sharp canines showing.

"Um... Hi,"she offered lamely, ignoring his question. Her entire body was in red-alert as he inched closer to her and she felt her backpack hit the lockers.

"How 'bout you and I go to Ichiraku? Feel like some ramen?"

"No thanks, Kiba, my sister would... kill me if I came home late..." Which was a complete and total lie seeing as though Anko didn't care where she went, just as long as Tenten called her.

"Come on, Tennie, it's just a little date..." His eyes flashed flirtatiously as her fists started to clench.

"Get away from her, Inuzuka, she doesn't want to."

The baritone voice flowed perfectly into her ears and she felt her whole body relax in relief. That baka had superb timing.

Kiba whirled away from her and toward the voice.

Neji's voice.

Tenten was practically shuddering with relief as the dog-lover moved away from her.

"What's it to you, pretty boy? Why would an emotionless jerk care about a girl like Tenten?"

_A girl like Tenten? _Her hands fisted angrily, knowing that she could take that boy down in one blow.

And then she looked up at Neji and decided that he could most _definitely _take the Inuzuka down in one blow. Kiba looked strong, but he was no match for a thoroughly livid Hyuuga Neji.

Her friend's hands were shaking by his sides and his face was carefully devoid of any emotion save for the fire blazing behind his pale eyes. In a split second, Tenten decided that this had gone far enough.

She stepped up in between the two, disrupting Neji's fierce glare and smiling gently at Kiba.

"I'm actually heading to the mall..."

"With me." the Hyuuga finished for her, silently daring the other boy to make another move.

Tenten looked back at him, confused, before grinning and latching onto Neji's arm. "Yeah, and we really must be going... Bye, Kiba!" She waved back at him as the pair walked away, secretly smiling at the enraged look on his face. "Thank you," she sighed gratefully once they were out of earshot.

"I'm not going to the mall with you," he said simply.

"I... didn't really expect you to..." the girl muttered, trying to hide her disappointment.

There was a silence as they walked out of the high school and he looked down carefully at her.

"I will, however, walk you home."

Tenten looked at him and her features positively lit up. "Thanks."

オ

The following month for Tenten was probably the most normal, most fun month in her _entire_ life.

Which probably wasn't saying that much now that she thought about it...

Sure, people did kind of look at her weirdly because she would never go anywhere without her trusty backpack, but nobody had labeled her off as a freak, so she was content. Besides, anyone who dared look sideways at her these days had gotten a prompt warning glare courtesy of her favorite Hyuuga.

The relationship among the three friends had changed too. Now, they all were inseparable. They did everything together, from going to the mall to walking home. Hyuuga's did have their limits, though, so he would sometimes leave Lee to wander aimlessly around the mall, preferring walking Tenten home. The two usually walked without Lee because his house was in the opposite direction...

Or at least that's what they told themselves...

Tenten herself immensely enjoyed their walks. Neji wouldn't talk much, but the silences were always comfortable and his presence always soothed her. The girl enjoyed his company so much, in fact that it almost physically hurt her when he was away... Yes, she, Mitarashi Tenten, had a massive crush on the most popular boy at school.

How completely cliché.

She didn't care, though, because she was the only girl that he would ever give the time of day. Yeah, her gloating earned her several long rants from Ino, but it was worth it.

The first quarter in her new school had flown by before she knew it. The Mitarashi had gotten _A_s and B_s _ in every class except for one. English.

Oh, how she _loathed_ that class.

When Kakashi had suggested that she get a fellow student to tutor her, she had reluctantly agreed. Frankly, spending time alone with another student in a room when she was supposed to be in study hall didn't really sit well with her. Could you blame her?

So, here she was, sitting alone in front of the abandoned English class, waiting for whoever Kakashi had assigned to her.

Tenten heard soft, almost inaudible, footsteps enter the room and she knew who it was without having to look.

"Neji?" the girl lifted her head off the desk just in time to see him smirk.

"I wasn't expecting to tutor you, Tenten."

"Yeah, well..." she rolled her eyes at his amused expression.

"Alright," the pearly-eyed boy sat easily on top of the desk next to her, "what in English is so hard for you to understand?"

"Well..." she frowned down at her books, "diagramming for one, and I just don't enjoy the Lit part."

He raised a slender eyebrow, "So about three-fourths of the class? No wonder you're failing."

"Oh, be quiet."

The Hyuuga sighed and walked over to the white board in the front of the classroom. "The first thing to remember when diagramming is what part of speech a word or phrase is. From there, you just need to know what to do with that part of speech." He turned briskly to Tenten who had found it much easier to pay attention to Neji than Kakashi. "I'm assuming that you understand how to locate and diagram the subject, verb, and direct object?"

The brunette made a scoffing noise and brushed her bangs out of her face. "Of course. Those are easy, it's just the infinitives and gerunds and crap like that."

"I see." Neji picked up a marker and wrote a sentence on the board. "Diagram this for me."

He had her at "for me."

She joined him at the white board and grabbed a marker... and so the lesson had begun.

オ

Every day at study hall, the two would meet for an English lesson. Sometimes it was diagramming, while other times they would just work on locating parts of speech, and then sometimes Neji would spend their whole hour getting Tenten to really think about poetry or ponder over a short story. She was beginning to love her third hour study hall.

"So this Odysseus guy gets away scott-free, but then has to gloat at the friggin' cyclops and gets himself cursed?"

"Basically," Neji responded with a glint of humor in his silver eyes.

"What an idiot!" Tenten exclaimed before bursting out into a fit of giggles.

"Now," he murmured, catching her attention once more, "there were five parts to Polyphemus' curse." He tapped her open book with his pointer finger.

"Five?" She groaned lightly.

"It isn't that bad, Tenten. The first is that it would take him a long time to get home. Second, when he finally did get home, there would be trouble when he got there. Third was that he would lose all of his men. Fourthly, the voyage would be unlucky, or, more correctly, perilous. And lastly, that Odysseus would have to return in a borrowed boat."

She gaped at him. "You didn't even have to look at the book!"

"I enjoy literature," Neji shrugged nonchalantly.

"Then you could've taught me this whole lesson by memory? Why did you even bother opening the book?"

"Because, Tenten," he smirked before heading to the door just as the bell rang, "I know how you work."

The Hyuuga slid gracefully out the door, leaving Tenten with pleasant chills rolling down her spine.

オ

Hyuuga Neji shook his head in disgust. He was in way too deep, and, what was worse, was that he was letting that _girl_ pull him there. He should've never accepted that tutoring job, never let her get closer to him, and _never _let that bright smile worm its way into his heart.

It didn't really matter now; he was attached already.

And what scared him the most was that he was _enjoying_ being attached to her. _Thoroughly enjoying it. _The Hyuuga didn't want to detach himself from her, though he knew all too well that he would have to. She was a human! She didn't deserve the likes of him!

_Tomorrow,_ he decided brokenly, _Tomorrow I'll tell her... I have no choice..._

Neji knew very well what would happen if he told her. She'd run away screaming. Her brown eyes would dull and her mouth would open in horror at the freak that he was... it was a completely normal reaction.

But... he knew he could trust her not to tell anyone, and she'd then distance herself from him. So when that scientist came hunting him down, she wouldn't have to get hurt.

It was the only way.

His heart wrenched inside of his chest as he thought about losing her...

Why had he been born into this life? What had he ever done to deserve the things that had been done to him?

He huffed inaudibly and swung onto his windowsill before effortlessly pulling himself onto the roof. Neji looked silently over the Hyuuga estate and took a deep breath. He needed to clear his mind. The boy shed the thick jacket that he always wore and shot toward the edge of the roof like a bullet. He exhaled... and then launched himself off the building.

オ

Tenten pumped her wings up and down, feeling powerful surges of air fill up her tawny wings and lift her upward. In the sky, she was free and strong, a large shadow against the dull clouds, and easily mistaken for a large bird. Up here, she could breath and forget about everything. It was the most amazing feeling she had ever known. Yeah, she hated her childhood and her life was miserable sometimes, but she would never trade the feeling of soaring miles above the ground.

Her light body sliced powerfully through the inky air and she breathed in through her nose to avoid the swallowing of bugs. (It was _not fun _to choke on one of those suckers)

The girl leaned slightly left and made a lazy circle right above the house she shared with her sister. Tenten dropped steadily lower until she was just over the grass before snapping in her wings and landing with a little jog. She slid open the back door and ambled into her house, sighing at the scent of home.

Wait.

She frowned, a knot forming in her gut. Something just _wasn't_ right.

"Anko?" Tenten walked through the kitchen, her heart thudding painfully inside of her chest. Her sensitive hearing picked up movement upstairs. There was rustling and scratching and the mutant tried desperately to shove the fear aside. "Anko!" She screamed as her feat bounded up the steps. She reached the top to see a sight that she had hoped to never see again.

Her sister was wrestling valiantly against a half human/half snake hybrid that was twice her size and strength.

Their worst fears had been realized.

Orochimaru had found them.

オ

Lee gasped and held tightly to the trunk of the tree as it swayed violently beneath him. He was so far up that it felt like every gust of wind would blow it over. Then teen looked across the field and then down at the thick green vest in his hands. It felt weird to have the vest off and be so... vulnerable

He still wasn't the greatest at this, Neji having picked it up far faster than he, but he couldn't let his friend down. They had grown up together, had tackled obstacles far greater than what they could have normally handled.

And they had done it together.

So he couldn't fail Neji. Not now, not ever.

Lee shoved pictures of being caught and experimented on out of his head and focused on getting to the meeting place. Clutching his backpack and trusty vest to his heart, he took one last breath and leapt into nothingness.

オ

**Wow, that was mean of me... XD **

**So! Got the plot rolling, established the romantic interest... blah, blah, blah... Next chappie will be on the run from the crazed scientist and the reveal to the three friends! **

**Review please!**


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